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EU - Lisbon Treaty

(01/12/2009 to 01/12/2009)

Following the signature of the Czech president Václav Klaus at the beginning of November, the Lisbon Treaty will come into force from 1 December.

EU - Ukraine Summit

(04/12/2009 to 04/12/2009) Kiev, Ukraine

The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation.

Ukraine is a priority partner country within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). A joint EU-Ukraine Action Plan was endorsed by the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council on 21 February 2005. It is based on the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) and provides a comprehensive and ambitious framework for joint work with Ukraine, in all key areas of reform.

 

Romania - Presidential Elections Run-off

(06/12/2009 to 06/12/2009)

The Liberal Democrat Party (PDL, centre-right) candidate and the country’s current president, Traian Basescu, and his Social Democrat (PSD) rival, Mircea Geoana, will face each other in the second round of the Romanian presidential elections.

On November 22, neither of the candidates received more than 50% of the votes: Basescu received 32.5% and Geoana 30.7%. The country has been without a government since 13 October, after the centre-right cabinet received a vote of no confidence.

Bolivia - Presidential Elections

(06/12/2009 to 06/12/2009)

On December 6, Bolivia will choose a President of the Republic, 130 deputies and 36 senators of the Legislature. There will be a referendum on regional autonomy in La Paz, Oruro, Cochabamba and El Chaco.

Eight are the presidential candidates, including the current president, Evo Morales, who seeks re-election. Only Manfred Reyes, a former prefect of Cochabamba, for now seems to support more meaningful, and a fragmented opposition is hardly likely to succeed because in the polls Morales appears with a membership close to or above 40 percent.

Other candidates:

René Joaquino (Alianza Social): Mayor of Potosí
Samuel Doria Medina (Frente de Unidad Nacional)
Alejo Véliz (Pueblos por la Libertad y Soberanía)
Ana María Flores (Movimiento de Unidad Social Patriótica)
Remi Choquehuanca (Bolivia Social Demócrata)
Román Loayza (Gente)

UN - Climate Change Conference 2009

(07/12/2009 to 18/12/2009) Bella Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark

The United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between December 7 and December 18, 2009. The conference includes the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 5th Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP 5) to the Kyoto Protocol. According to the Bali Road Map, a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 is to be agreed there.

The conference was preceded by the Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions scientific conference, which took place in March 2009.

On January 28, 2009, the European Commission released a position paper, "Towards a comprehensive climate agreement in Copenhagen". The position paper "addresses three key challenges: targets and actions; financing [of "low-carbon development and adaptation"]; and building an effective global carbon market".

In order to demonstrate good example, the European Union had committed to implement to binding legislation, even without a satisfactory deal in Copenhagen. Last December, the European Union revised its carbon allowances system called the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) designed for the post Kyoto period (after 2013). This new stage of the system aims at further reducing greenhouse gases emitted in Europe in a binding way and at showing the commitments the EU had already done before the Copenhagen meeting. To avoid carbon leakage -relocation of companies in other regions not complying with similar legislation- the EU Commission will foresee that sectors exposed to international competition, should be granted some free allocations of CO2 emissions provided that they are at least at the same level of a benchmark. Other sectors should buy such credits on an international market. Energy intensive industries in Europe have advocated for this benchmark system in order to keep funds in investment capacities for low carbon products rather than for speculations. The European chemical industry claims here the need to be closer to the needs of citizens in a sustainable way. To comply with such commitments for a low carbon economy, this requires competitiveness and innovations.

France - Global Forum on Development (OECD)

(08/12/2009 to 09/12/2009) Paris, Francia

The OECD Global Forum on Development was launched in 2006 to improve dialogue between OECD and non-member governments, as well as a variety of private sector and civil society actors.

EU - Western Balkans Conference

(09/12/2009 to 09/12/2009) Brussels, Belgium

The conference is an initiative of Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and will be co-organised together with the European Commission, DG Enlargement, and with the support of the Regional Cooperation Council.

The conference will be centred on how the region can overcome the global economic crisis with a heavy emphasis on regional cooperation.

Chile - Presidential Elections

(13/12/2009 to 13/12/2009)

The Chilean presidential election of 2009 is scheduled by law to take place on Sunday December 13, 2009. The election will determine the successor to Michelle Bachelet. The winner will be sworn in on March 11, 2010. Parliamentary elections will take place at the same time.

Chilean politics are dominated by two main coalitions: the center-left Concert of Parties for Democracy (Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia), composed of the Christian Democrat Party, the Socialist Party, the Party for Democracy, and the Social Democrat Radical Party; and the center-right Alliance for Chile (Alianza por Chile), composed of the Independent Democrat Union and National Renewal. The far-left Juntos Podemos Más pact, made up of the Communist and Humanist parties, has no representatives in Congress and is considered to have almost no chances of winning the presidency.

The presidential candidates are:

- Sebastian Pinera Echenique (RN), "Alianza por Chile".
- Jorge Arrate Mac-Niven (PC), "Juntos Podemos".
- Gumucio Marco Enríquez-Ominami, Independent candidate.
- Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (DC), "Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia".

Rightwing businessman Sebastian Pinera would be imposed with 44% of the vote with enough difference from Eduardo Frei, who would go to the ballot with 31%.

Croatia - Presidential Elections

(27/12/2009 to 27/12/2009)

The fifth presidential elections in Croatia will take place 27 december. A second round, if the conditions for it are met, will be held on Sunday, January 10, 2010.

These candidates officially announced that will run for the presidential elections. Political party candidates were selected within party elections, or were elected by party bodies, and they are the only party's official candidates. All parliamentary parties have a policy to support only one candidate, and if they member announces independent nomination, automatically looses their party membership. Independent candidate Nadan Vidosevic lost his HDZ membership for announcing his nomination.

Each candidate has to receive 10,000 signatures from the date when actual president, Stipe Mesic, officially announces the beginning of electoral campaign. Each candidate can redraw from the election at any time.

Most important candidates:

Croatian Democratic Union: Andrija Hebrang (center-right)
Croatian People's Party-Liberal Democrats: Vesna Pusic (liberal, social progressive)
Istrian Democratic Assembly: Damir Kajin (regionalist, anti-fascist, populist)
Social Democratic Party of Croatia: Ivo Josipovic (social democrat, center left)

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